Unicorn Kid

It’s clear from the outset that tonight’s gig @ Cabaret Voltaire with local Leith Academy teenager Oli Sabin, aka Unicorn Kid, (pictured), is going to be a busy affair with a very young audience. But of course we knew this, it’s an over 14’s show (we’ve just not been to one for a while), and given the amount of interest in Unicorn Kid lately it shouldn’t be of any surprise to find hordes of teenagers camped outside eagerly awaiting the start of tonight’s show.

Now for the main attraction – Unicorn Kid. – a super talented young lad from Leith his story is quite unbelievable.
Just 17 years old, barely finished school, got a record deal, live session on BBC Radio 1, currently enjoying plenty of airplay across the network and he’s rapidly garnering an unprecedented following across the globe. He has merged the electronic 8-bit and ‘chiptune’ movements to be at the forefront of his own take on the genres. As if this wasn’t enough, incredibly, he has already remixed the new Pet Shop Boys single, ‘Did You See Me Coming’ (which he did during his school holidays) and is currently enjoying a headline UK tour with an extensive US tour planned in the coming months. The deeper you delve into his world the more intriguing and fantastic his story becomes. He was also scouted out to pioneer new technology from Glasgow company Popmorphic which enabled his single Lion Hat to become an interactive music video game. So, he’s got his own computer game too? (Seriously, click HERE give it a shot).

So what does he sound like then, are the kids into it? The simple answer is mad and yes they do. The kids that are packed in to Cabaret Voltaire tonight love every second. There are limbs flailing about in the air frantically for the duration of the set, Oli also doesn’t stop bouncing and dancing for the entire set, only taking brief moments to film the antics of the crowd and join in. On top of this, he’s trying to paw his trademark fluffy Lion Hat from his eyes now and then. At times Unicorn Kid sounds like a games console rave, with a definite undercurrent of happy hardcore perhaps. It’s like the soundtrack to an early version of Sonic The Hedgehog on the Sega megadrive. Either way, we loved every note, it was completely fresh to us and wouldn’t be out of place on a computer game soundtrack (he’s probably being asked as we write this!). He may have started a craze with his hat too! We witnessed several Unicorn Kid fans with their very own versions of his now trademark Lion Hat.

Given his recent accomplishments, it would be absurd to think he isn’t going to be absolutely massive. When you add into the mix the fact that his Myspace page is about to hit a million views I’m tempted to say that Unicorn Kid is on the verge of going stratospheric by this time next year.

For us, the excitement and whispers of all the kids lining up to get a photo with Oli and get signed CD’s at the end of the gig was the icing on the cake. Despite all his success at such an early stage in his career, Oli struck us as a pretty down to earth kid. He certainly works extremely hard at his music and is every bit deserving of all the praise being heaped upon him right now.

We recommend you go and experience Unicorn Kid at a venue near you as soon as possible!

Catch him live in Edinburgh’s Electric Circus on 5th July and as part of The Edge Festival at Cabaret Voltaire on 15th August.
Most importantly have a listen and perhaps become the millionth visitor: www.myspace.com/unicornkid
- The Skinny

He may wear a lion hat and be named after a fantasy creature, but with the Pet Shop Boys, Calvin Harris and a belting set at T on his side, Unicorn Kid is set to make myth a reality.

The Lion and the Unicorn have long been heralded as hostile beasts. They mythically jostle in the animal kingdom. They symbolically tussle in the solar system. They brawl for territory on the Scottish Royal Coat of Arms. When the legendary quadrupeds harmonise, however, their enduring union of opposites is awesome. Recently, said winning bestial alliance has been courted by an interstellar teenager from Leith.

He is, of course, the Unicorn Kid – alais techno-pop anthropomorphist Oli Sabin – whose berserk electro symphonies have slain admirers from the Pet Shop Boys to the Scissor Sisters. Bounding amidst a chip-tune fervour of Clubland albums, Calvin Harris, and the miscreant stable of Adaadat, (Germlin, Ommm, DJ Scotch Egg), Sabin’s iridescent 8-bit anthems insinuate bagpipe jigs, euphoric prog and breakneck melodies. Notably, his rapidly-ascending profile is crowned with a lion’s head.

Sabin claims mammalian concord was ordained by fate – leonine intervention, if you will. ‘To be honest I searched hard for a unicorn hat,’ he says, from a rush-hour carriage on the London-Edinburgh train. ‘But when I realised that wasn’t going to happen I opted for the next best thing – a lion. I didn’t mean for it to catch on but I’m glad it has: every musician needs a gimmick.’

Unicorn Kid’s imminent day-glo rammy at Cabaret Voltaire – in tandem with pop-toting rap stars Young Fathers – will raise the roof. Here, by way of illustration, are two scenes from this year’s T in the Park.

Saturday afternoon: Unicorn Kid bucks the ritual of motionless electro showmanship by going, you know: bonkers. He frantically dances, congenially waves and waggles his trademark wildcat chapeau while his ADD-addled pop contortions immortalise various creatures and monsters. Girls in the crowd drain bottles of wine; students parody the Highland fling; dudes body-pop in pink latex leotards; party kids brandish super-size acid flags. Red Bull rains from the heavens onto hairless, bare-chested boys in bear hats. It’s some distance from Sabin’s live debut, age 15, to 10 pals and his mum and dad. ‘It’s nice to compare nights like that to T in the Park,’ he reflects. ‘Just to think about how much things have come on.’

Saturday teatime at TiTP: enter hip-hop romeos Young Fathers, who trump Sabin’s jungle millinery by having an actual lion in the audience. (Well, a man-lion. Like a man. With a mane). The beaming Edinburgh trio are invincible: their luminous R&B, chromo-funk and booty-bass spans dance routines; falsetto serenades; sartorial tributes to Michael Jackson. They stir up Outkast, De La Soul, Spank Rock. ‘Young Fathers are great,’ raves Sabin. ‘And they’re brilliant live.’

They may be fun-loving but don’t be misled: Young Fathers and Unicorn Kid are re-animating our Scottish pop heraldry.

Unicorn Kid and Young Fathers play Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 15 Aug as part of The Edge.
- The List

Not many teenage bedroom musicians get the chance to be heard outside their own bedrooms. Fewer still get invited to remix an arena-filling act. But for Oli Sabin, a 17-year old from Leith who has been recording and performing as Unicorn Kid since he was 15, the dream became a reality during the Easter school holidays, when he was invited to rework the latest Pet Shop Boys single, Did You See Me Coming?

"It was the first remix that I did," he admits. "I was sitting in my room and I started opening all the files up, and I had five different a capellas of Neil Tennant's voice. It was so weird to be hearing that."

In his remix, Tennant's vocals are the sole surviving elements of the original track. As for Chris Lowe's instrumentation, "I kind of wiped him out. I started the remix before I'd actually listened to the original track, so I wasn't too influenced by what it sounds like. The chord combinations underneath it are all completely different. Maybe that's the reason why they liked it."

Championed by Popjustice.com's Peter Robinson - who brokered the hook-up with Tennant and Lowe - and Huw Stephens at Radio 1, Unicorn Kid's bright, brash, richly melodic brand of electronic dance music has also caught the ear of Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears, who publicly courted his friendship on Twitter. Following a recent London showcase gig ("60, 80 kids down in the pit, and it was all just industry at the back"), the pair met, clicked, and discussed future collaborations.

Unicorn Kid's music has its roots in the 8-bit scene: a long-established if mostly overlooked genre (also known as chiptune or gamewave), whose practitioners use old-school videogame consoles to generate original compositions. "I'm not well-regarded within the scene," he concedes. Perhaps it's because he uses modern equipment to emulate the sound chips of the games consoles, thus offending the genre purists - or perhaps it's "because I'm a young guy, making popular young music. But I'm not looking to impress them more than anyone else."

To unschooled ears, 8-bit's blaring bleeps and swirls can sound jarring and over-insistent - but for Unicorn Kid, its appeal lies in the clean, electronic purity of the sound. "It gave me a kind of sound set," he explains. "Something to hang on to, to make you understand it a bit better. If I wasn't doing that, I think I would have got lost with all the other dance music."

Unicorn Kid insists his work should not be bracketed as "video game music". Neither should it be seen as purely functional, mechanistic dancefloor fodder. "You get feelings of determination," he suggests, "or of positive optimism. People often message me, saying it makes them feel happy when they listen to it. It often reflects what I'm feeling at that time."

On stage, the tumbling melodic intricacy that defines his sound is beefed up with fatter basslines and a more pronounced rhythmic urgency. Mindful of his popularity with teenage fans, Unicorn Kid is happiest when playing gigs at which under-18s are admitted, and wary of age-restricted club PAs, where his music can sometimes sound plain wrong.

Despite its roots in trance and hardcore, the cheerful freshness of tracks such as Lion Hat and Wee Monsters contrasts sharply with the more demonic, oblivion-seeking dynamics of hard dance. Listen carefully, and you might catch echoes of Bollywood soundtracks, Scottish jigs and reels, or even the flashy wizardry of prog. Curious and inclusive by nature, Unicorn Kid cheerfully acknowledges the uncool delights of "stuff that people would consider to be bad music, like Clubland albums". Best of all, he's an unashamed fan of current mainstream pop - Lady GaGa, Tinchy Stryder, Calvin Harris - at a time when the singles charts are arguably in their healthiest state for years. "I love the production sounds, and I really think there's elements of what I'm doing occurring in stuff like La Roux," he agrees. "I think it's my time, to come in and do my thing now."

• The Lion Hat EP is out now. Wee Monsters is released on July 13 on Euphonios. - The Guardian

Oliver Sabin describes himself as a 17-year-old boy with a hat, but in reality he is so much more than that.

Leith based electro pop maestro started playing around with production software as a hobby in his bedroom but soon found he could turn it into a career. He identifies himself as connected to and a fan of chiptune, the science of taking the noises of old Nintendo games and making them into dance music. It may sound strange and even a little bit annoying, but the phenomenon has swept a whole generation off their Converses. Although Sabin admits he could never be called a 'true chiptuner', there’s no doubt that he has hit success partly due to his link with the genre.

One of the Myspace generation as it’s called, he used the social networking site as a means of finding fans as far afield as Japan and growing in notability. The fact that he is in fact also quite good looking has no doubt enhances his appeal with a massive following of teenagers.

Clearly social networking is the way to do everything today, as it was down to a combination of blogging and Twitter that Unicorn Kid got his most prestigious job to date – remixing Pet Shop Boys single 'Did You See Me Coming?'

The story goes that highly regarded music blog Popjustice asked Unicorn Kid via Twitter on Neil Tennant’s behalf if he would do the remix. Sabin agreed, only half serious, and before he knew it he was in talks with Pet Shop Boys 'people'.

After his performance at the 'Skinslife' party at the Arches, Vic Galloway paid specific attention to the Scottish youngster with rave reviews on Radio 1, and following this was offered a host of festival dates and a tour of the States. He has also released first singles 'Sugarfest!', 'Lion Hat' and 'Wee Monsters'.

If the techno career dies a death however, Oliver has also been accepted into Edinburgh School of Art. Creatively the boy can clearly do no wrong. - Clash Magazine

ROUND the corner from the school he's just left, Scotland's newest dance music sensation leads the way, hood up and jeans falling off his backside, as we climb the stairs to his bedroom. "This is where the magic happens," says Oliver Sabin, better known to two million MySpacers and countless Tweeters – if not yet you – as Unicorn Kid.
The surroundings seem pretty unmagical: bed (duvet on the floor); chest of drawers with the only adornment a can of Right Guard; giant clumpy Nike trainer in a violent shade of green, its partner presumably floating off nearby Leith Docks as a hazardADVERTISEMENT

marker buoy; guitar (surprising, considering all of Unicorn Kid's music is made on computer), laptop – and four stark white walls.

What, no posters? "I need a completely clear head for this," says Sabin, 17. Even if you love pop music and think you know a lot about it, you may need one here as well. Unicorn Kid is most closely associated with the electro-genre known as 8-bit. Far from some two-bit fad, it's been around for longer than Sabin himself, transmitting seemingly demented beats that probably sound like Bach to the faithful but must make others worry that the Space Invaders have escaped from the videogame arcades, and having learned much niftier moves, are marching on the town hall.

Here's some more familiar names. Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters is a fan and Pet Shop Boys love Unicorn Kid so much they got him to remix their last single. Sabin was studying for five Highers at Leith Academy at the time so had to finish the job in the Easter hols, his most striking contribution being the zapping of all of Chris Lowe's instrumentation (ah, the casual insouciance of youth!). Shears courted him on Twitter and they've since met to discuss future collaborations but right now he's working on his debut album and having deferred his place at art college is free to tour America, spreading the word some more about 8-bit.

Some call it chiptune, others gamewave. Whatever, Sabin says he's probably managed to offend all of the purists. "Traditionally, 8-bit has used old-school videogame consoles to make music, but I have a computer to replicate the sound and hopefully create something for the stadium – more accessible, more tuneful."

Sabin wants to follow Calvin Harris from the bedroom to the mainstream, which must be sacrilege to true believers. "I'm not well-regarded on the scene," he admits. "Some want to keep it underground so they don't like me having any success. Others object to me using modern technology. And then there are the guys – they're a bit older – who don't like the fact I'm young and have a fringe. They're probably upwards of 25 (wow, that old] and wear normal jeans and normal T-shirts and work in IT. And I don't suppose these will help my case either… "

Sabin has just emptied the contents of his wardrobe on to the bedroom carpet: lion hats, lots of them, the wolf from his brief flirtation with synthetic comedy lupine headgear as stagewear – but now it's lions all the way. "The lion hat is my thing," he says. "I bought the first one from the German Market on Princes Street the Christmas before Unicorn Kid's first gig two years ago. Now my manager's tracked down the manufacturer and struck a deal for merchandising so the fans can have their own ones instead of nicking mine."

Sabin's first grand obsession was videogames. "I loved Sega Megadrive – Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage – and then I had my PlayStation. But by the time the Xbox came along I was more into music and art (he designs all the Unicorn Kid artwork]. The first music I liked was heavy metal, extreme stuff like Slipknot, and aged 14 I played bass in a metal band." And they were called? "Exit To Nowhere!" He chuckles at the memory and reveals dance music has always been a guilty pleasure. "I love the terrible hardcore tunes – example, Darren Styles – that everyone else hates. There's a bit of a crossover with metal and what I do. The other day this girl on Twitter was like: 'So on Saturday should I go see Unicorn Kid or Bleed From Within?'"

Most grown-ups' exposure to the frantic bleeps of the Unicorn Kid's world is confined to the commercials for dance compilations – "100 bonkers blammers!" – which interrupt primetime drama on ITV with that nice Martin Clunes. But Sabin's parents, Mike and Michelle, must hear his music reverberating in the plasterwork, so what do they make of it?

"They're really supportive of Unicorn Kid, morally and financially," he says. "When I told my mum I'd got my first gig she was like 'What, you, playing that?' but now it's her gym music and even her ringtone. I'm always asking my dad: 'If I wasn't your son would you really be into this?' He says yes and I suppose that's to do with him having been a punk, back in the day."

Although he accepts his fanbase is teenager-dominated, Sabin sees no reason why, in time, he cannot extend the appeal of 8-bit. "Underage gigs are more po - Scotland on Sunday

UNICORN KID, BBC Introducing Stage

IBIZA or Scotland? Well, the glorious sunshine, the fun and the tunes are all right here on our doorstep.

Radio 6 Music star Huw Stephens introduces T In The Park's youngest star in the form of Oliver Sabin who takes to the stage in his trademark lion hat and blasts through track after track.

The 17-year-old rattles through the catchy electronica of his Wee Monsters and Lion Hat singles and really connects with the delighted crowd.

Before too long, everyone is dancing around, hands in the air and the atmosphere is incredible.

It's clear that Unicorn Kid has got heaps of talent, and there's no doubt we will hear more of him this year.

Calvin Harris better mind his back! - News of the World

Oli Sabin is only 17 years old and is just completing his Highers, but the result he is really waiting for arrives next week.

That is when Oli, who records and performs as Unicorn Kid, sees the release of his remix for the Pet Shop Boys' forthcoming single, Did You See Me Coming?.

His link-up with the elder statesmen of British pop music was a very 21st-century affair.

"I was on Twitter," he said.

"The Pet Shop Boys were doing their new single on TV. I made some post to music blog Pop Justice about Neil Tennant, and they said, oh, you should remix them, and I thought that would be cool.

"They actually phoned them up, and from that, their manager got in touch with my manager about doing a remix. It's mad. They're pop icons, so having someone of my size doing something like this feels really weird.

"I was only really aware of their recent stuff, which I liked, but I wasn't familiar with any of their music from the past at all.

"We had no idea my remix would be accepted, but I spent the whole of my school holidays working on it non-stop. Then I sent it over and it was accepted, which I think is pretty cool."

"Cool" is something of an understatement. But, then, given that Unicorn Kid's MySpace site received more than a million hits even before he won a competition founded by TV teenage drama Skins to find fresh talent for the programme, Oli is clearly used to such attention.

While Unicorn Kid music ended up not being used on Skins and a proposed Skins record label bit the dust after Ofcom decreed such an offshoot would be a conflict of interest, Oli did end up playing both the London and Glasgow launch parties for the drama's third series.

Since then, a steady stream of live dates has seen his debut single, Lion Hat, snapped up both in digital download and CD formats.

In terms of sales, however, Did You See Me Coming? and its accompanying remix looks set to sell considerably more.

"With remixing," said Oli, "I didn't just want to do an extended version of the song that wasn't as good as the original. I really wanted to create a new song with their vocals.

"The only part I used in the end was the vocal set to a brand new song that's in my style completely.

"I think maybe that was why The Pet Shop Boys picked it, because it's something different. I got the shivers when I first heard the a cappella of the track.

"I was quite worried about it, because I didn't want to mess up, but The Pet Shop Boys have put a message out to say they like it.

"I'm sure Neil Tennant's fine about it, but I do wonder how Chris Lowe feels about it, because essentially he's not got anything to do with my version, because I've pretty much wiped him out."

Oli, who is from Leith, started playing keyboards aged six and had already been in assorted bands playing bass guitar on everything from pop-funk to Death Metal.

Unicorn Kid was born a couple of years ago when Oli bought a Casio keyboard. He messed about with drumbeats and recorded tracks that he then put up on MySpace.

The attention suggested to Oli that he might be on to something, and he experimented further with compositional software.

The result was a hybrid form of melody-friendly hyperactive techno that sounded like it had escaped from a Nintendo machine.

"There's a strong connection with my music to the Chip-Tune, 8-Bit music scene, which is people who make their music from video games consoles," he said.

"I don't do that, but create that synthetically on the computer, which means I'm not that highly regarded within that scene.

"That's a really supportive scene, but I try to reach out to an audience that they maybe don't, and still listen to that music regardless.

"I can also listen to hardcore dance music, and that comes in to it. There are bits of everything in there.

"It's dance music that it's okay to like, I think, with all these sounds from toys that remind people of their childhood. But it's all been a bit weird. There are people in Mexico buying my T-shirts, and it's only recently something like that has started to feel normal."

When Oli performs live, it is onstage with just a laptop and his age means that, for most shows, his under-age friends can't get in to see him.

Oli is looking at his Unicorn Kid guise as a long-term thing, but he rules out studying and pursuing a music career at the same time.

"Maybe if I was offered a Pet Shop Boys tour or something, then obviously I would just have to leave."

For the immediate future, though, he'll be finishing off the B-sides for his forthcoming second single, Little Monsters. "It's running quite tight, because it's due out in June, and I've got exams coming up as well."

Then there's the possibi- lity of meeting The Pet Shop Boys when Tennant and Lowe play T In The Park. Oli laughs at the prospect.

"I reckon I'll be well starstruck," he said.

Unicorn Kid's remix of Did You See Me Coming? by The Pet Shop Boys is released on June 1. Uni - The Herald

20 Unicorn Kid (BBC Introducing Stage, Saturday)
Precocious young Scot Oliver Sabin began making his frenetic electro music as a hobby when he was 15, possibly after eating too many sweets. At 17, he's been in the NME, sold out shows in London and done a remix for the Pet Shop Boys. Freed from the obligation to go to school anymore, he's going to spend September touring the USA. Try to contain your jealousy. - The Scotsman

You played this year's T In The Park,how was it?
It was good, I had fun. I had a good crowd. It was the first time I've been to a festival, so to go to my first festival and play at it was pretty cool. I didn't get to see that much, though.
I went on the Friday night and camped with a friend and I was a bit ill with a cold. On the Saturday, I was doing interviews and playing and then I had to go to another festival in Wales, but I'm getting more used to that sort of thing now, the driving overnight stuff.
Have you left school now?
I left after fifth year, I've just sat my Highers. I got accepted to Edinburgh College of Art but I have deferred for a year. I mayhave to give upmyplace. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing so I should just seize the opportunity.
How did you get in to music and doing this?
I was messing around on the computer, making songs, sampling these keyboards and putting them on MySpace. It wasn't a serious thing. The MySpace stuff just built up and I started to take it more seriously.
I then got picked up by management last October, I did shows and somewhere along the way I broke into the music industry.
How did you get involved with the Pet Shop Boys?
Through Twitter, a journalist Peter Robinson, who writes for Popjustice.com, said that I should remix the Pet Shop Boys.
He spoke to them and their manager contacted my manager. I spent the Easter holidays remixing the Pet Shop Boys because I was still at school. I'd never done a remix before, so it was a big deal and especially doing it for pop icons like them. It was agood break for me.
Didn't you meet Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters?
Yes, that was through Twitter but I think he found out about me through Neil Tennant. To have people of that kind of calibre in the music indusry speaking to me is amazing.
He came along to my gig in London, I met him and we went out afterwards. Doing a remix for them would be really cool. A year ago thinking about that would have been totally unreal.
What else are you involved in?
I did an under-18s disco in Glasgow last week. I think it's important to be doing that because that is where a lot of my fanbase lies.
I'm also heading off to the US for a tour in September with a support for Owl City who is pretty big among people who like my music in America.
I'm going to work on an album for next year and I will release another single on the way. Obviously, my music is instrumental but I hope my album will feature some vocal stuff. I'm hoping for a summer release next year.
What's the story of the lion hat?
I got the hat when I was 15, it was before my first gig. I was preparing for it and was a bit worried. I just bought the lion hat and was thinking I could wear it on stage. It went down quite well, so I wore it tomy next gig and have done ever since. It's become my thing.
I'm not sure I'd be getting the same kind of success if I didn't have the lion hat. But on tour and even at T In The Park there were people in the crowd with their own animal hats.
We're going to sell them at the gigs. I got mine from the German Christmas markets in Edinburgh. I think they still sell them but I got a message recently from someone on eBay saying they keep selling out. - Sunday Mail

Teenagers who are told that playing computer games is not a constructive way of spending their have a flesh-and-blood hero in young music producer Oli Sabin. As Unicorn Kid, the computer whizz from Edinburgh makes electronic pop that sounds like the soundtrack to an arcade game, creating kitsch dance music by layering sparky console samples over speedy keyboard riffs and drum loops.

His songs are not as mature as those created by fellow console-inspired creator Boy 8-Bit, and they have certain similarity to happy hardcore. Saying this, Sabin is having a lot of success taking chiptune music into commercial territory, and he's appealing to audiences who don't necessarily suffer from joypad-thumb. Having signed to Euphonios, this relatively unknown released his debut singles, Lion Hat, in January and he's about to enjoy wider success with a remix of the Pet Shop Boys' Did You See Me Coming?

- Metro